Many teachers may be eligible for revamped bonuses

As many as 1,000 Lake educators could get about $2,000 if the merit-pay plan goes through.

April 29, 2007|By Leslie Postal, Sentinel Staff Writer

Lake County teachers -- perhaps 1,000 of them -- would be in line for merit-pay bonuses this summer under a new award plan the School Board approved last week.

The county's public school teachers must still vote on it, but their union president called it a "good plan" that would reward teachers for excellence as well as teamwork.

The new plan would replace a much-hated bonus structure that the board imposed late last year and that Lake teachers approved only reluctantly.

Under the new plan, 35 percent to 40 percent of Lake's more than 2,730 teachers could be eligible for bonuses this year, said Kathleen Thomas, the district's director of planning, program evaluation and accountability. They likely would get the bonuses -- worth about $2,000 -- in July.

The plan would give bonuses to teachers who had strong evaluations, individual success with students and success with students on their "teams." Schools would decide their own teams, which could be subject areas, such as math or social studies, grades or some other designation.

Success with students would be judged by test score improvements, either on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test or district tests for subjects not covered by the FCAT. Schools administered district tests last week, Thomas said. Students took the FCAT, a series of reading, writing, math and science exams, in February and March.

The new plan, which the School Board approved unanimously, was devised to address the "major complaints" about the earlier plan required under the state's Special Teachers Are Rewarded program, Thomas added.

Lawmakers set up the STAR plan last spring because districts had failed to implement, to the state's satisfaction, a previous incentive-pay bonus plan for teachers. They argued that districts made getting the bonuses a difficult, bureaucratic process and thereby limited the awards. Only 10 Lake teachers, for example, received bonuses under that old plan during the 2005-06 school year, district figures show.

But STAR was harshly criticized by teachers and rejected by some school districts, and the Florida Legislature revoked it this spring before it took effect.

Lawmakers replaced it with the new Merit Award Plan. Both plans rely on test scores to judge who should get bonuses. But the new plan allows schools and districts more flexibility in assessing teacher performance.

Lake officials revamped their STAR plan to meet the new requirements. That meant doing away with a system that would have ranked teachers and paid bonuses to only the top 25 percent.

Instead, its new plan would use a 100-point system, with those earning 71 points or more eligible for a reward. They would be considered "exemplary" or "outstanding."

By state law, the bonuses must equal at least 5 percent of the average teacher's salary. In Lake, that would equate to $2,000. Lake's share of the $147.5 million earmarked this year for teacher bonuses is $2.1 million, which should cover bonuses for the 35 percent to 40 percent of eligible teachers, officials said.

"We think it's a good plan," said Pam Burtnett, president of the Lake County Education Association.

Burtnett added she was "quite pleased that the legislators were responsive."

Teachers will vote on the plan after the Florida Department of Education reviews it, she said.